Feeling sosi for a night

I don’t understand women – and especially men – who blow a fortune on jewelry. If you are not careful – and sometimes even if you are careful – you may lose some pieces (or heaven forbid even the entire collection) to burglars. Or you may even lose your life trying to hang on to a favorite jewelry piece when confronted by a modern-day bandit. My advice is: Don’t fight back!)

I guess some people buy jewelry for investment – and that’s very understandable because, unlike properties, you can easily run off with your jewelry collection in case something terrible happens in this country.

In my case, I’ve never really liked jewelry and am totally ignorant about gems. It was with incredulity therefore that I received an invitation to attend one of the two Bvlgari shows held last week at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel. The event was to showcase Bvlgari’s new Astrale collection and it was strictly invitational affair.

"But why would I want to attend a jewelry show?" I asked Macy Pineda, who sent me the invitation to the Bvlgari’s function. "Because Bessie Badilla is one of the models," she shot back. "Oh, in that case I’ll go then," was my quick reply.

Two years ago, I watched a fashion show (also at the Makati Shangri-La) for the first time in my life because Bessie Badilla was modeling for Ben Farrales. I remember it was a fun experience because Bessie brought some of her siblings — Maritess, Sonny (with girlfriend Pet Gonzales) and Bing who came with husband Ronnie Magsanoc. Although it was a formal affair, our group behaved like we were watching a La Salle-Ateneo UAAP finals complete with the heckling and the cheering.

While I asked Bessie if I should expect the same kind of fun I had two years ago at the Ben Farrales show, she assured me that I would also be enjoying myself — but in a different way. To begin with, it was going to be a lot more formal. Formal as in coat and tie. I was starting to crumple the invitation card — allergic as I am to stiff formal affairs — when Bessie uttered the magic phrase: "Masarap ang pagkain!" Bessie added that it was Mario Katigbak, the Bvlgari country manager in the Philippines, who was organizing the event. "Basta affair ni Mario Katigbak, masarap ang pagkain," she added.

That was all the assurance I needed — good food. After airing my coat and tie, I was all set to feel sosi for a night.

But on the night I chose to watch the Bvlgari show last Friday, it was difficult to keep up the sosi feeling after you’ve stewed in traffic for hours — the worst in recent months, no thanks to flash floods.

I was told that the early birds were treated to cocktails first while lounging in Minotti furniture at the Bvlgari Ballroom of the Makati Shangri-La Hotel. I didn’t witness this anymore because by the time I got to the affair — after spending hours on end in EDSA — the formal eight-course dinner was already in No. 6.

It was Bessie and model Olen Lim who signaled me to join them at their side of the table (it was just one long table that ran almost 32 meters). I almost didn’t recognize them in their beehive hair (courtesy of Tony & Guys) — especially Olen because the last time we saw each other was four years ago when we appeared together as guests in the now-defunct D Day.

Bessie instructed me to try and catch up with them at dinner and this meant wolfing down and practically inhaling the food as they came: scallop, pan fried foie gras, seabass and grilled beef with tempura prawns — all washed down with Bacchus wine.

Even the dessert was fabulous: apple tart tin and a really divine dark Valhrona chocolate mousse.

Given the fact that I only had less than an hour to swoop down on an eight-course meal, I was pleased with myself that I was able to look up and look around at familiar faces: Tessa and Dennis Valdes, presidential half-brother Arthur Macapagal and wife Mariter, Pepper Teehankee of this paper, Maurice Arcache, Gigi Mabanta of Louis Vitton, Elbert and Liza (Ilarde) Cuenca and Grace Glory Go, whose secret of youth other women are still trying to discover.

Too bad, even my dessert had to be rushed because we were made to hop over to the adjoining function room for the show that featured – aside from Bessie Badilla and Olen Lim – other models like Rissa Samson, Patty Betita, Bianca Valerio, Bubbles Paraiso, Rachel Soriano, Valerie de los Santos and Isabel Roces. They were dressed up by Alex Bitong, Ann Chavez, Marianne Lazaro, Raul Ramirez and Mix. While the show was ongoing, there were more treats — cognac and Moet et Chandon champagne.

Somebody later whispered to me that a P2.8 M Bvlgari choker was bought the night before. Goodness, I could have bought a one-bedroom condo unit with that amount.

But I guess the other people in the room were not thinking along the same lines because I saw some women (already bejeweled) whose eyes were popping out at the radiance of the Bvlgari collection being paraded around — with their husbands wiping beads of sweat off their foreheads.

At the end of the show, I quickly dashed off to the exit and while waiting for my car at the hotel entrance, I bumped into a friend who asked me if I bought anything at the Bvlgari show. Well, I showed him the Bvlgari brochure and frankly stated that that was all I could afford. And even that came free.

But really, I came out of the show a little convinced that jewelry investment isn’t such a bad idea after all — especially if it’s Bvlgari.

More importantly, thanks to that gem of an event, in the drabness of Metro Manila that evening at least once in my life I felt sosi.